When the young midfielder stepped onto the pitch for his local team debut against Phoenix Sports before just 55 spectators in 2019, his manager back then assured, “we haven’t seen the best from this boy.”
This prediction proved to be something of an underestimation.
Now 22 years old and an established top-flight player with the Cherries, the midfielder has earned his maiden summons to the full England team.
His ascent from eighth-tier talent to potential England player is a true throwback, a story rarely seen in the modern era.
Next stop? The World Cup?
“Back then, there was zero possibility of becoming a pro footballer, never mind featuring in the Premier League and representing England as well,” Scott said previously.
“It’s been a incredible half-dozen years of my life, and circumstances have changed completely for myself and my loved ones.”
So how did Scott, known fondly as the ‘Grealish from Guernsey’, end up at this level?
Learning in non-league
His football journey has not been a typical one.
He was part of four and a half years in Southampton’s youth system starting at eight, leaving school early each Friday to fly from his home on Guernsey to the mainland so he could train and feature for the Saints’ youth teams.
Before he turned 13, however, they released him. The Cherries gave him an option and he was on the Cherries’ books for a time, but, by the player’s own admission, his mind was not in it.
Instead, he chose to stay on Guernsey and play for his local team.
“My form had dipped and traveling weekly was becoming overwhelming,” he recalled.
“I just wanted to chill at my home with my mates at the weekend because I missed nearly several years of doing that. To have that little bit of childhood again was a thing I definitely required.
“To gain a bit of confidence by coming back and taking part in local football was huge for me. That proved to be probably the most crucial things that led me where I am today.”
When he was just 16, the teenager made history as the youngest player in the club’s records when he came on as a 57th-minute replacement in their league fixture at Phoenix Sports.
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping because I was figuring out how I could include him in the team because his talent is obvious,” manager Tony Vance commented back then.
“People have witnessed that – his possession of the ball is exceptional, the way he carries the ball, he’s a class act.”
Returning to the pro ranks
Championship side Bristol City – owned by islander Steve Lansdown – had been monitoring Scott’s development after an promising beginning in men’s football and arranged a try-out in late 2019.
“The whole experience was chaos,” said the player. “Day one I joined the under-18s, the next day I was with the senior squad, which was a total shock.
“Midweek I played for Guernsey FC in the capital, returned home and on the Friday, I played for the youth team and netted a hat-trick. From that point a certainty for me to sign a deal.”
In just a year and a half, even some way short of his 18th birthday, he was making his senior debut versus Luton.
He made eighty-three league appearances for the Robins while still a teenager, frequently being deployed as a wide defender – and sometimes in attack as a attacking midfielder – demonstrating his adaptability and versatility. Despite his youth and playing out of position he was the standout performer.
Thanks to his ability to drive the ball forward, and with his socks rolled down to his ankles, he earned the moniker ‘the Guernsey Grealish’, a nod to City and national team playmaker Jack Grealish.
At the end of the 2022-23 season he won the EFL Championship’s best young player award, was selected in the division’s team of the year and was named the club’s top player and top youngster.
“No doubt, I think he will represent his country and I think he will progress to the pinnacle of the sport,” Nigel Pearson, Scott’s manager at the club, remarked last year.
Within 90 days later, he signed for the Cherries for a understood transfer fee of £25m.
Getting his major transfer
Scott experienced a challenging first season with the club, having to wait until the autumn to earn his Premier League debut after a knee problem in the summer, and then being inconsistent of the team.
His following season was equally disrupted, this time by a surgery which sidelined him for almost several months.
“I had a decent run at the close of the previous campaign, which was nice to have, then I broke my jaw,” said he.
“It was almost another setback and it was shaping up as a pretty bad start for the first five months.”
But he was then called up by England for the U21 Euros – and managed to get himself fit for the tournament.
He went on to start five of the England U21s’ six matches as they went on to win the tournament in the host nation, forming a formidable partnership in midfield with Elliot Anderson, who in turn has excelled for the senior side with Thomas Tuchel.
And he has started this season equally as strongly for Bournemouth, featuring in every game to help them to the top five in the table.
“To play for the national team would be among the most special moments of my life,” Scott said recently.
“The responsibility is mine, I’ve got to keep progressing as a player, maintain my love for the game, getting better day on day, and with luck I catch the eye of the national coach and earn an opportunity.”
